Detroit BBQ: Lyric or fact?

Q: In the song "House of Blue Lights," they have "fryers, broilers and Detroit barbecue ribs." Can you explain what "Detroit barbecue ribs" are?

—Rick Shaftan, Sparta, N.J.

A: I fear "Detroit barbecue ribs" may be nothing more than a catchy song lyric rather than an unique style of barbecue.

My former Tribune colleague, Robin Mather, is Michigan-born and served as Detroit News food editor for nearly a decade. She's never heard of 'em.

"I'm listening to that song right now (Asleep at the Wheel's version) and I believe the Detroit reference there is just for emphasis and the amazing gutty-tough resonance that Detroit carries,'' she wrote in an e-mail.

"A lot of ribs in the Detroit metro area show clear influences from other places—North and South Carolina's thin, vinegary sauces, Memphis's dry rubs, St. Louis's reddish-brown sweet-tangy sauce, Kansas City's very red, very sweet sauce—but those influences come from the influx of people who moved to the Motor City from those places post-World War II and brought their favorite rib style with them," she added.

Now senior associate editor at Mother Earth News magazine and author of the soon-to-be-published "The Feast Nearby," Mather is a former barbecue competition judge who specialized in ribs.

"I'm fairly confident in my ability to spot a rib's influences from 20 paces. Nothing I've ever seen in Michigan is unique to Michigan, let alone to Detroit," she said.

"No specific Detroit barbecue style I'm aware of," said Wiviott, a founder of LTHForum, a Chicago-based culinary chat line. "Slows, the place that gets the most publicity, has a multi-regional menu. I've had direct cooked chicken and ribs at a few random street setups, but nothing the city could hang its hat on."